When my family owes The Don of The Italian Mafia money that they don't have; how do they repay him? The answer, an arranged marriage. With whom? The youngest daughter, of course. Who is the youngest?
Me.
Isabella Morello.
My life wasn't always rai...
Once upon a time in a castle up in Italy's countryside lived.... Who are we kidding, this isn't a fairytale; this is a living Hell. After the fiasco at the restaurant six months ago; I had exactly one damn year until I have to marry the spawn of the Devil himself. I have to marry Alessio Greco; future Don of the Italian Mafia. All thanks to dear ole Padre. Donatello had sent an updated contract that goes with the original contract. Alessio and I have to get to know each other for the remainder of the year. Six months I have to spend side by side with my future husband. Six months I have to go on dates, attend balls, pretty much anything and everything in life now we must do together. Why? I have no clue. I guess it's Donatello's master plan to get me to shoot my brains out or his own son's imaginary brain out his thicken skull. Along with being together most of the day for six months; we have to plan a fucking wedding together.
That's the icing on my cake.
My parents always said never judge a book by its cover; however, this book has been around and I know how this story will end. The contract is set in stone and there's no way around it. All I can do is suck up my pride and just abide by the contract. Maybe it won't be as bad as my mind thinks it will be. Speaking of wedding plannings and my future husband; we have to have a lovely family dinner tonight. As in, the Greco and the Morello sitting at one table together. Now this will be an interesting dinner and I can't wait for the chaos to begin. We're currently in our second home in Bari, Italy. Our main home is in Sicily. It's an eight hour drive here. We always come here to visit when the weather is warm. Or when father needs to visit his restaurant. See, father owns a restaurant here and in Sicily. If father would have just sold one of his restaurants and or one of our homes; I wouldn't be in this predicament. Selfish old bastard I call a father.
"Belle, Madre sent me up here to tell you it's time to get ready." My eldest sister Gabrielle announces at my door. Her interruption causes me to jump. In the process throwing my closed book on my lap across the room.
"What must I wear this time?" I question with my brow quirked. Last time I had to wear fancy evening gown that wasn't my color or my style.
"Apparently formal gowns, yet again." Victoria says from behind Gabby in a voice that made her sound like she ate sour candy for the first time.
"What does mother and father have me wearing this time?" I question with my arms crossed.
"Mother has a few rows of designer gowns down in the room for us to try on." Gabby says with a light laugh. For once, we get to choose our dresses and not the God awful ones they seem to pick!
Gabby and Tori grab both my hands and drag my unwilling self out of the safety of my room. They're running with excitement dancing through their veins as I run to my doom. We trek through the halls and down the spiral staircase, passing the maids in the process. We come to a screeching halt when we come face to face with the double doors that will most likely be the death of me. Gabby lightly knocks once on the door. So lightly that I don't even think a person with sonar bat hearing would have heard it. Not surprisingly, our mother calls from the room.
"Enter girls!"
We do as she says and enter the room I've seen more times in the past few months than I have my whole existence. As the doors open, we can see rows downs the right side of the room. There's three sections of seven racks of designer dresses. Each section for each of the daughters.
"Donatello was kind enough to send over these dresses. Apparently Alessio didn't like the last dress Isabella wore. Maybe, there's something in here that will be appealing to his eyes. Come girls." Mother starts to explain.
Gabby and Tori didn't have be told twice. They went to their rightful sections while I am still standing like a statue in front of the doors. This will take us hours to even go through all these dresses. I twiddle with my blouse as I slowly walk further into the room. As I make it to my own section of dresses, my fingers dance through all the different fabrics and textures of each dress. Each piece of fabric is so different from the next. I finally felt material that feels amazing on my fingertips. I pull the dress off the rack and stare at the beautiful piece of fabric dangling in front of me. I take the beautiful evening gown with me and head towards my Japanese cherry blossom shoji blinds. I carefully step into my dress and have the tailor zip it up. It clings to my breasts, cinches in on my waist, hugs my hips just right, and follows freely down to the floor. It has a high risqué slit that goes almost to my hip. The gown gathers into a small train that pools around my feet. The silk material flows like water and is the softest silk I have felt before. Diamonds are embedded into the gown; they stand out considering the gown is black as night. It's simple, elegant, and a little risqué. In other words, I am in love with this dress. I carefully take the gown off and hang it back on its hanger. Our tailor places the gown carefully into a gown bag.
"It'll be in your room in a few hours. You have hair and makeup Miss Isabella."
I nod my head and smile a genuine smile at her as I exit behind my shoji blinds. My sisters have yet found a dress as I exit the room. They'll be down here for hours playing dress up; trying on everything single material of gowns. I make it to my bedroom and let out a shaky startled breath. Our hairstylist and makeup artist both sit at my vanity. I guess the torture is about to truly begin. My head has been pulled every which direction. My brows have been plucked to where I swear I don't have any brow hairs left. After hours of excruciating pain, literally. My look is complete. I stand up and look in the full length mirror at my reflection. With a soft smile on my face, I thank each of them for their work they have done.
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(Image dress in black and the slit not as high up.)
I exit my room and head towards our main room. We have fourth minutes to get to our destination.
Grotta Palazzese.
Apparently, Greco family has bought the whole place for the evening. All five of us climb in the back of the limousine and head to Grotta Palazzese. Hopefully this night doesn't end in a disaster.
